'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.' Robert Frost

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Wednesday = Hump Day. Half way thru the work week already! Well,am actually taking Friday following Canada Day off . Plan is to be very productive and get tonnes of errands done that I’ve been putting off. Ha…I laugh at myself. This is not a good sign. Delirium is setting in.

Right, so yesterday was Unofficial Bake Day at work for our team of 14 women and 2 men. As you can imagine (or maybe you can’t), I was putting major pressure on myself to bake something that would take the cake (yes..lame pun was intended..apologies). Given my affinity for baking/cooking, need to gain acceptance/approval of peers, slightly competitive tendencies and highly developed taste/affection for sweets..you can understand I was slightly stressed about the whole baking ordeal, but also v. much looking forward to finished product. Alas, was not meant to be..lack of bakeware and incompetency of grocery shopper (me) forced me to buy baked goods ..sigh. A sad, sad day. In any case, I spent half of yesterday sampling all the baked goods ..purely for comparative purposes. In ironic twist, I also chose to join the gym yesterday and am now scheduled for health and fitness test later this afternoon. CAN only imagine how much I’ve gained since the weekend between the carrot cake, cookies, brownies and candy.

We may have found a flat…more accurately, Keri may have found us a flat…complete with private terrace and back garden. Plus a bit of a rent hike. Hopefully we can continue to evade Council taxes and bills. So..for all of you that were intending ot mail me cash/cheques/money orders/candy/cards/etc. . . . just put a hold on that thought, will post new address asap..then you can send by Air Mail. Hmmm..wonder how long it would take for CDs from Ireland to reach Edinburgh J

Have noticed favortism (overusage?) of particular phrases/words that can be attributed to certain nationalities and specific people..here’s a little rundown:

Scottish Ay
Ta
Cheers
Hiya
How about another drink?
Cheeky

Irish

Howya
Gorgeous
Brilliant
How about another drink?
Happy Days

Keri Perfect
This week on Big Brother..
F*ck off (normally directed at her flatmates..we need a curse jar)

Monday, June 28, 2004

Shannon & Jen go out on town with Scottish bloke. They begin the night by unknowningly downing shots of Red Hoit CHili Pepper Vodka. Both are unusualy at a loss for words for the next wee while. They move on to The 3 Sisters, where they dance in uncoordinated but completely sexy manner while Steven shows them up with fancuy footwork and actual rhythym. ONwards & UpwardstoFIlthy McNAsty's it is..Jen has a plan to execute.Unfortunately, it does not go accordingly.

SATURDAY DAY

Eating,eating & more eating,witha side dish of eating.

Actually, day begins quite well..with Shannon & Jen visiting Fitness Fair and coming to conclusion that they will soon be FEncing FEmme Fatales.

From there it degenerated into eating fest..free samples at Sainsbury's, candy from the Pound Store and huge meal at the LInks..washed down with Pint of Carlsberg.

Clothes shopping -S hannon discovers she's dropped a size since lastin Europe!!!!!! Buys 2 skirts.ONly realises afterwardsthat she has no footwear to go with them. NIkes just won't do. MOre shopping must be on agenda.

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Not much to report today, but I just wanted to repost a link to Backpackers Express, which is this company ofering numerous services to backpackers including cheap & fun flights (so they say anyway..16+ hours on plane just doesn't seem enticing at all to me) from Manchester to Melbourne..in case anyone wants to go/come from them (ahem..Becky R!!!)

Friday, June 25, 2004

Ms Keri Anne Shields has been given fair warning to sleep with one eye open. How Sweet It Is (Is = Revenge) .For a millisecond I was actually flattered when she told me she’d posted a pretty picture of me on her webshots..then I considered the paradox of such a statement and realised she’d chosen (unwisely) to post Picture 138 of the 170 stored on her digital camera. Oh my dear Keri you do not know just how formidable an opponent I can be. When you least expect it….

OK..enough with the threats, will put into action soon enough don’t you worry Keri-Beri. See the prob with other people’s photo albums is that they are only concerned with whether THEY look good in pictures, thus others find rather unappealing pics of themselves posted on the Internet for all to see (with no consent). Sigh.. I can hear Carly Simon singing ‘You’re so Vain’ at this very moment… hmm..maybe that is a good song for next karaoke gig.

There..that is the extent of my math abilities. Have been flexing numeric abilites (what ltd ones I have) at work, with bond calculations and adding up flexi-hours. 6 years of post-secondary study ..I try not to think about it..I try not to think at all.

Oh, but discovered today that lack of thinking required for job can, in fact, encourage flow of creative juices. Scott, another temp who I am supposed to be replacing but is oddly enough still here 3 weeks later, and I have been discussing (in-depth) possible entrepreneurial ventures…and I’ve actually come up w/some brilliant ideas (lack of humility here..apologies , but chance to use brain is minimal so may be overly excited about my thoughts) . So who knows..maybe this Shanadian will be selling her own wares/services in Edinburgh soon enough..stay tuned !

It is Finally Friday. Plans for weekend are essentially non-existent. We (flat girls) have vague plan to go flat-hunting tomorrow. I am pacifist, but desperate times (lack of hot water and end of lease) call for desperate measures. I’m not sure how successful we’ll be given that we’ve yet to call anyone or arrange any viewings. Tonight we are heading out on town with Scottish guy who fancies himself to be Elvis (this is dude who might replace BC Brad) and, hopefully, some other new acquaintances..like our neighbours or Jen’s workmates (of course..JEN is completely responsible for recruitment drive this evening..so we shall see.In this case, quantity is more important than quality)

I think it advisable that we also start prepping for Canada day and go on our funnel search J BBQs galore next weekend..can’t wait!!!

Oh. and Tuesday is unofficially bake day at work so am now under pressure to create masterful dessert. On sidenote..they call all desserts Pudding over here. This, in my opinion, is just confuzzling. Say you are having pudding for dessert..then essentially you are having pudding forpudding. OR what if you are having cake…then you are having cake for pudding. Egads…. In any case, bake day can not be good for the slim figure (cough * cough) I am trying to develop.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Right so here I am again, posting during lunch. Again, am consuming my roll & apple..consistent and healthy, what can I say? Actually we gals are going to the pictures tonight (note plural usage even though we are only seeing one film) so must save calories for theatre sweeties/.

In the way of eventful happenings over the past 36 hours I have basically nothing. The most exciting things I did were:

1. Bought a pair of jeans. This may not seem v. exciting to most, but those who know me well would be shocked..honestly can’t recall last time I pulled on a pair of normal, denim jeans. Jen was floored by sight of me in dress down clothes.Oh..and I was hot. It appears the hills of Edinburgh have been good to my behind.
2. Had two ice cold showers. Obviously not by choice, but by circumstance. We have no hot water at the mo..hopefully this will be fixed today. Brought back memories (fond?)of early days in N. Granville..before we had plumbing.
3. Went for jog w/Jen. OK..again not v. exciting, but I was blown away by fact that Jen could gather any energy to even leave the apartment again after spending Sunday night in bus from London and working full day. Officially we’ve determined Jen is person in flat who can getaway with least amount of sleep.

So..in absence of any ‘event news’ will ramble on about random thoughts that have bene flitting across my mind this morning.

AM presently reading a book called ‘Them’ by Jon Ronson..it is about adventures with extremists. V. interesting, but can’t say I understand it all..as is British based book so far..perhaps better stick to simplistic/comedic writings of Michael Moore. Speaking of which..his new film comes out this weekend..I urge everyone to go see Farhenheit 9/11..I am sure it will be an amazing..possibly disturbing..documentary.

While we are at it..Let’s Talk About Text (Right Said Fred in 21st century!). Texting..a blessing and a curse to every women who owns a mobile.For those of you that don’t know what texting is..it is basically like emailing but via mobiles. Of course, messages must be concise or one could spend all day typing away on keypad of phone. (as side note..I am apparently best texter, analyser & replier in the flat..by best I mean fastest…)

In any case..probs w/texting revolve around the following scenarios:

1.one sends out a text and doesnot recieve a response within expected period of time.One then spends copious amounts of time considering WHY??

2. one receives a text which could be decipheredany number of ways. Recievee then asks for others to help I deciphering and finds that, in fact, there aertoomany waystext could e translatedtobe sure of what sender was saying.

3.One decides to send text message while inebriated. Enough said

4.One sends text to wrong person. Text is about that person

Now..all of these problems w/texting could easily be avoided if one simply chose to have conversation via phone (as in two way, real time talk)…hmm..except maybe #3…BUT..texting has its pluses including: the fact that it is cheaper, the fact that it can be done from anywhere, avoidance of difficulty understanding accents, ability to send convoluted messages, ability to avoid certain topics of conversation..and the lists goes on. So, of course, the texter chooses to continue with this method of conversing. What can I say..is a vicious circle!

Friday, June 18, 2004

HA. My life has officially been compared to a soap opera (see comment by U ncle Mike). What can I say? Goal in life has now been reached. Goodbye Coronation Street, hello All Shanadian! Truth be told..life is more like an occassionally funny sitcom that only gets air time due to fabulous ensemble cast (ie. Jen,Keri & Shan)

Here's the thing..my job is so very mind-numbing thatI essentially spend seven hours of the day with my thoughts.NO one should be allowed to think that much..is hazardous to health..particulary when one then engages in alcohol consumption and reveals thoughts in completely uncensored manner to other persons. OOh..surprise, surprise..Shannon once again follows up episode of inebriation with a good dose of sobriety and 'Whoops..what did I say/text/do?; AH well..that's life...what's the point of regret..it doesn't do anything but give one a complex.

In completely unrelated news..Jen & I took in another night at Filthy McNasty's last night. Vodka, whisky and shots of zambuka = good times, much 'dancing' and singing 'Ironic' in fine style. I think we've officially met all the bartenders there now..excpet maybe one girl, but she may be the girl that was replaced by 'D', Irish girl we met last night. In any case, we stayed after close which Jen thinks is so v. cool..and I'd tend to agree..it has its perks! OOh we also met a Scottish lad (this is a rarity on Rose St) He was v. cool dude, whom JEn & I think may fill the void that has existed since BC Brad left us :( OK..no one can replace Brad, but whatever (in absence of good way to finish that sentence I've opted to use Valley Girl 'whatever'..I apologise)

Just as a note for all those people who don't think I am practical or logical. Ahem...was just looking at my transcript a few nights ago (due to Jen wanting to see what one looked like..really) and would like to note that I did v. well in Philosophy 111 - Practical Logic thank you v. much. Just because one choses NOT to be practical/logical in all situations does not suggest a lack of ability to be so..that's all I am saying.

Hmm...on slightly serious note...I am disturbed by absolute lack of environmental concern on this side of the Atlantic. Absolutely no recycling programs in place and the amount of paper used in my workplace alone begs the question 'If a tree falls in the forest, will a new one grow up fast enoguh in its place to continue supplying demands of the commercial world in which we live?' sigh

Happy Father's Day to all fathers and like-fathers out there!! Wish I were home to celebrate and make meal (but only for the day..am loving it too much to be homesick even an inkling!)

Hmm..looks like that is all my time for today. Will check in again as soon as possible. NOt a bad post for a gal working on 5 hours sleep and how knows how much of the good stuff in her system eh?

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Have decided that I will start writing blog posts in Word then cut & Paste to blog…hopefully this will result in fewer spelling and grammar mistakes! I know there is spell check on blogger (can hear Becky R saying that as I type..but it bites..it doesn’t have half the words I use in the dictionary and they are simple words like ‘something’).

So it is my favorite day of the week. Why Thursday? You might ask(if you were really bored and had nothing better to spend your time thinking about).Well..Thursday is like the precursor to everything good (i.e.the weekend).Is point in time when you can create high expectations and imagine things turning out just as you wish ..hmm am getting de ja vu here..perhaps I have mentioned my affinity for Thursday before?

And don’t feel bad for me if you’ve read Jen’s blog and realised I am skipping out on London…my day will come..and I will be sure to avoid the 12 hour, overnight bus option..as appealing as that is..

On happy happy joy joy note – finally got confirmation of address in Edinburgh so I can open a bank account. Having a bank account – not one of those things one spends their spare time wishing for..until you don’t have one. Believe me. So now I can join the gym, have money sent directly into my account and return to my debiting ways…..la la la

Tuesday night Jen, Keri & I went to a pub that has a magician on Tuesday nights. He was pretty cool..even though he didn’t have balloons as Keri suspected he would. He did promise that he’d bring balloons next time if we emailed to let him know of our arrival. We have to return anyway…or should I say..Keri has to return to the bar :)

Last night was even more exciting than the magic show..Jen & I went jogging in the rain, followed by grocery shopping in the rain..then having girl talk (not in the rain, but in comfort of kitchen)

Tonight I think we will be at Filthy’s for karaoke. Have just recently learned that there are McNasty’s all over..even in Canada. Personally think PEI could do with one..although quite sure the clientele could not live up to Edinburgh standards…

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Back Again today..having eaten my lunch very fast (roll & Green apple..ultra healthy oh yeah) I have about 20 mins to write on blog today! Happy Happy Joy Joy! Acutally am wondering whether this blogging at lunch thing may be rather anti-social..could go to cafeteria with co-workers I suppose, but would feel rather out of place being only one with lunch from home ( I refuse to buy lunch..way too expensive..am quite sure that in time this will not be consideration..but am just too po at the mo).

In any case..my plan to make sure everyone on team knows and remembers who I am is simple..bring in Candy/Sweeties - specifically a big bag of Celebrations (these little mini-chocolate bar type things...yummy and not necessarily cheap). Some might question whether this would be an attempt on my part to bypass self-imposed NO BUYING CANDY rule..and the simple answer would be: Yes, yes it is. But whatever..clothes I bought jsut ebfore leaving are falling off me (ok..it hasn't actually happened yet,that would be extremely embarassing..but a few close calls)

So..news of the day - well,other than catching up on sleep, not a whole lot to report. Last night we all just chillaxed at the flat, save for the mini-jog that Jen & I took..we are getting too fast for our own good. As for my thoughts on the jogging (Jen thinks it is getting bland),I would have to say there are better ways to get exercise..my fav is likely dancing..but would not be opposed to joining football team or building a swimming pool (must be heated though!) .

In other random thoughts:

Completely forgot about this, but before I left Canada I went into teh Schol of BUsiness and picked up my new diploma/degree (since I skipped out on Graduation..how horrible of me..so everyone says anyway..I still say Myrtle'sStep Class was more enjoyable way to spend Saturday morning! ).Anyway..according to diploma my Bachelor of ARTS degree has officially been converted to a Bachelor of Business Admin with Honours. That's quite the leap..from William Shakespeare to Adam Smith. So I now have Bachelor of Business with Co-op and Bachelor of Arts converted to BBA with Honours. Am actually starting to consider possible ways I could use this to my advantage in 'Catch Me If You Can' type of way . The reason I mention this is simple..I am too lazy to send an email to Mom asking whether she's had a chance to check in with Registrar's Office...so Hint Hint (But know you are busy and no hurry for degree...apparently they are of little/no value on this side of the Atlantic anyway!)

Keri & Jen are going to London this weekend, leaving me all to my own devices in Edinburgh. Am slightly concerned that I may use those devices to my own demise :) Nah..all is good..will find myself some cool replacements (as if these two gals could be replaced) and rock out. Other option is to visit Aberdeen girls and listen to Elton John(fromoutside walls of stadiuma twhich he is playing). Enticing, but I'm just not sure....will see.

Funnels - they had better be plentiful over here..we've yet to go on a funnel-hunt, but we've got big plans to which funnel(s) are central to execution...ahem. Not to worry...we are responsible with funnels!

Stores close much too early...normally at 6.00 in the evening. How am I supposed to frivilously spend all the money I don't have if the stores aren't open?? This sitch is particularly disturbing given that there are stil five hours of perfectly good daylight out...shopping in the day, drinking in the evening, sleeping in the wee hours of the morn..that is how it is supposed to go..but store hours and excessive daylight here have made things a bit screwy.

K..that's all the time I have for today. Tonight = Magic + Fish & Chips! Could it get any better??

Monday, June 14, 2004

OK..I have ten minutes left on my lunch hour *really only 30 mins..but anywho),so will ssee how much I can type. Theoretically I can type 58 words per minute so should eb able to type 580 words, but must factor in time to think, edit, post and such..shite..one minute already down.

OK..so apologies in advnace if this blog post makes no sense whatsoever (unlike all my other blog posts whicha re wonderfully construcuted and completly absent of spelling mistakes, half sentences and ...'s). You will have to forgive this Sleepless Shanadian...as she is operating on 2 hours of sleep. Yep, that's right...2 whole hours..from approximately 4.30 to 6.30 in teh am of this lovely MOnday morning (note to anyone woho may be wondering..it gets light around 4.00 a.m...JEnw as plannignto stay up some time to find out..well have now saved her the trouble).

N,normally such absence of sleep would be accompanied by Shandalous tale of me up to some sort of Shananigans,but, sadly, this was not the case on this particluar occassion. Was tucked under the covers by midnight. Perhaps mid-afternoon nap was not best idea...nor is thinking....or drinking Diet Coke in the late hours...that's all I'm saying.

On positive note..productivity at work has actually increased today..go figure.My theory..work is so mind-numbing that person doing work (that would be ME) should essentially lack any and all ability to process real thoughts (that is me TODAY only!!) While I am proud of productivity I am already starting to question teh point..have just beendelivered another pile of CEC's to do.teh workis never ending..the salary stays the same...am starting to understand how piecework pay can be motivator..will have to suggest this to HR. All in good time :) Best wait till I get my first paycheque and/or become indispensible to business before making such suggestions.

Quick recap of weekend (realy quick as I have one minute left!!)

Friday = mini pub crawl

Saturday = outing to Stirling where WIlliam Wallace defended Scotland from the English. Met up with gals from PEI and climbed 267 steps to top of Wallace monument. Reutrn to Edinburgh for evening out..Easy Drinking Whisky is really quite easy to drink..good night had by all

Thursday, June 10, 2004

I am a woman on a mission today. To boldly go, where this Shanadian believes she has already been before (but has become doubtful due to recent email from 'ahem@ certain person who thinks Fabulously Jen is the accomplished missionary). Right.so..my mission - to be witty. Now the problem with such a mission, is that one can not easily create wit on demand, thus in attempting to be witty, one often comes across as witLESS. Nevermind..will go against the odds and be 'Fabulously' Witty.

Where to begin? Ah yes, last blog entry was v. v. short due to me being at work and it being the first day. I've just finished my third day of work (incidentally we arrive din Edinburgh just four weeks ago) and must say I believe post at Scottish Equitable will be mind-numbing, but pleasantly so.

I am essentially doing data entry, which involves entering names, addresses and calculating a few numbers (Finance 331 has come in handy..I actually know what a Bond is and what a Gain is...gaining is something I do very well..but will get to that later). What have I learned so far? Well, my knowledge of place names has increased by at least 100% (of course, 100% of nothing is still ..er...um 0 I think..but let me get the calculator to be sure).

My favorite addresses are the ones in Wales...they make absolutely no sense and when you try to pronounce them it simply sounds like you've stuffed a banana in your mouth and then decided to spout out some random words. Honestly..words that have no vowels..or more then three consonants in a row freak me out..they really do..my brain rejects them. How can they be words????

Another interesting occurrence (apologies..am grasping at straws here to make my job as interesting as possible..is more difficult than trying to stay away from the pubs every night:) Right..so there are a lot of place names over here that end with Shire (like from LOTR) ..Ayrshire, Lancashire..yaddda, yadda, yadda..and here I am typing at a manic speed....well..on more than one occasion have replaced 'R' in shire with letter to the right of the 'R' ..have caught all atrocities so far, but whew...must stay on eh ball..don't want to be sending out any shite!

OH..another perk to the job..free coffee (ew), tea (Nah) or hot chocolate (jackpot) every day!!! Plus lots of sweeties/candy going around (hey we are team of 15 girls what do you expect??) In case that isn't enough, they have great restaurant, cafe and...PICK & MIX ..only 50p per 100g. This is better than Sweet Factory (not better than Bulk Barn..but can anything compare...the B is in a league of its own). Given the easy access to food/candy I must say the presence of on-site gym is reassuring..will join a soon as I can (i.e. when I actually get a bank account set up here!!)

OK..for some reason I keep forgetting to mention a few adjustments that have caused me slight trouble here in Edinburgh. The first being that it doesn't get dark until around 11 at night, and the sun rises in the wee hours of the morn..Essentially I would say no more 6 hours of semi-darkness a day. This is all grand, save for when one is trying to get tp sleep..there is just something wrong about going to bed before the sun falls. Hence the reason I've been super tired this week (may also have something to do with late, late nights of the weekend...but will ignore that possibility and Blame it on the SUN ...rather than the Rain ..there hasn't been much of that here at all)

Of even greater concern is lack of stop signs..Honestly I have seen as few Stop Signs as I have Scottish people since arriving....Street corners in Edinburgh are apparently meant for speeding around and pedestrians are like pylons on an obstacle course..try to avoid them, but can't be helped if you knock down one or two ..no way are you slowing down in your SmartCar...no sireee..

Ok..well must now head to LIDL..great German grocery store where everything is cheap, thus all edibles are of questionable goodness..ah well..what's life without a bit of risk (this from me..who refused to eat red meat in Ireland!)??

Monday, June 07, 2004

How am I feeling today? Guilty. Why? Because I feel as though I've let my readers down by blowing off the blogging for the past week. Reading Becky R's blog only made it worse. Ay (translation ay/yes..but) you must understand, access to Internet is limited by availability of the following resources: Time & money. Unfortunately I've had very little of the either recently. But here I am with a little time (still no money, but good ol' library access...Happy days!!) so am going to attempt to recollect events of past week in v. Condensed, AA version (note..jen &n Keri have been writing in PG version....so obviously if you want a bit more of the truth...you'll just have to visit All Shanadian)

Ok..so where did I leave off? Ah yes..the Weekend that Went All Wrong. Well, as it turns out..Sometimes the things you don't plan end up being the best . Take for instance our plan to do quiz night last Sunday at local bar on Rose St. called Breck's. Did we plan to amass a posse of Scottish males? I don't think so. Did we plan to get more Northern/Scottish Exposure in public house (read into that what you must) than any of us would wish upon ourselves? No way. Suffice to say, our quiz night never really happened and, with much incentive to leave Breck's and the v. sophisticated crew of lads that had started playing games with salt and butter knives at our table, we found ourselves back at good 'ol Filthy McNasty's.

And what did we find at Filthy McNasty's but men in kilts. Ay...if there was any chance I hadn't seen enough men in skirts during my life time..The score was certainly settled last Sunday. I danced with men in kilts, sang songs with men in kils...it was all just a bit too much for this Shanadian. Right, so Sunday evening turned out to be redeemer of the weekend...the 99p shots did help a lot..

My second weekend at Scottish Blood Transfusion..more interesting/exciting than the first..I'd graduated to using Excel and Peoplesoft!!! Woohoo!! In any case, had decided that if I was offered an extension I would turn it down, but luckliy enogh no extension was offered, so was looking forward to having this week off (note the apst tense there..see below for details). ANyways,am done with that bloody job now..onwards & upwards.

Tuesday eve,us gals decided to take in a picture (not from a store or an adoption type thing....a movie is what I am talking about). We went to see The Day After Tomorrow..and let me just say..if you are thinking about viewing this flick then that is when you should go see it..the day after tomorrow..because, theoretically that day will never arrive (because tomorrow will always becomes today for infinity right? ( Am I making any sense whatsoever?? Anyway, the short of it is that the movie is shite, despite the fact that I believe the basic premise (environmental awarenss) is v. important...

Thursday night was return to McNastys (really must send a pic from there..is our watering hole now I believe..again..see below for more details). I can't really recall how the evening went..so it may very well have been boring. Actually, I think it was quite so..we did some singing (if you could call it that) and some drinking. Note: Singing and drinknig go v. v. well together..one encourages the other and vice versa.

Friday = On a Need to Know Basis...all I will say is that I broke promise to never drink Aftershock again..

Saturday = Caledonian Beer Fstival. Paid 7 pounds to get into beer festival and were given souvenir glass and pint of beer in return..must say, felt a bit gipped until we (the 3 gals) won ourselves a bottle of vanilla/citrus flavoured whisky. And how did we do that? By having awesome smelling abilties and scoring highest on smelling of pure essences test. Was truly a team effort :) Too bad none of us is keen on whisky, but we did get our pic with Robbo, the entrepreneur, and that was treat enough in itself!

Saturday night was Finnegan's Wake (Irish Bar) for return of the Mockingbirds. OK, by end of night it was official..we are now groupies..having had our picture taken on stage with the band for the second time...one must be on alert when there are five Canadian girls in the house and a band with hot lead singer :)

Ooh..and last night Jen & I took in a History of Motown show which was straight from America. WAs fabulous, although could have done with less of main man (who was rather old ) grabbing himself like Michael Jackson . just wasn't right.

And, of course, to end off night we went to McNasty's, where I daresay I may actually be considered a regular now. Unanimously our fav pub in Edinburgh :)

Right,so here I am thinking I have the whole week off..when I get a call aroud lunch time from temp agency and I've been offered job that starts tomorrow..a six month contract. Is admin work at Scottish Equity Investment..apparently there are quite a few temps working there, so hopefully will be better social life than at Scottish Blood Transfusion where lunches were spent with supervisor and librarian discussing garden parties and Marie Curie Cancer events....Who knows? I may stay for the entirety of it, but I can quit whenever I want.

So..off I go to get my haircut. Yes..its only been three and a half weeks and already I have to shell money out on this damn style. And isnt it always the way that when you finally decide to do the deed you end up receiving all sorts of compliments on your hair? Ay....well, must be done.

Uncle Mike - if you are really offering to send PB ..well by all means. AS if you weren't my favorite uncle anyways..but now its in stone!!! My address is as follows:

Shannon Courtney
29 Drummond Place
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH36PN

AS for you emailers whom i haven't replied to yet..I apologise and make promise to do it v. soon. Especially high on priority list is Sister Sahra...as we must start planning October holiday soon!!!

My Journey

Food feeds the body, the mind and the soul. It connects everything and yet we are now completely disconnected from it. This, then, is my journey towards food connectedness, understanding interdependence and being independent of the dominant food system.